Local EMT helps with Sandy effort

An employee of the local branch of American Medical Response, the company that provides ambulance service in Alamogordo, has sent one of its employees to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

AMR spokesman Dave Wheeler said David Carter had flown into Atlanta about a week ago and then caravaned into New Jersey.

He said he hasn't had much contact with Carter since he left, and Carter could be anywhere from New Hampshire to North Carolina.

"There's a big deployment area, so I'm not sure where he is," Wheeler said.

Wheeler said Carter has been helping transport medical patients from one place to another, and helping out wherever he is needed.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency activated AMR on Oct. 24 and the company has about 350 ambulances in the deployment area, Wheeler said.

"As long as FEMA requires us, we'll be there to provide assistance," Wheeler said.

He said the FEMA activation was for seven days, but Carter surpassed that Saturday.

The Public Service Company of New Mexico has also sent about 40 people from New Mexico to help with power issues caused by the hurricane, according to a press release.

The crew from PNM includes people from Alamogordo and will help with replacing distribution poles and transformers, repairing downed electrical lines and running new services and repairing transmission structures, according to PNM.

As of Friday, PNM crews had completed work in Baltimore and were headed to Passaic, N.

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Contact John Bear at jbear@alamogordonews.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnbearwithme.